Tag Archives: Homeopathy

As an ex-vet nurse and “mum” to my two dogs, there is one thing that can get me to boiling point faster than anything else and that is people who don’t take care of their pets and provide them with adequate medical treatment when required.

Therefore, when @drunkenmadman posted a link to a place selling homeopathic vaccinations for pets my blood began to boil.

Pet Homeopath has for sale homeopathic vaccinations for distemper & parvovirus as well as preventives for heartworm and ticks. All of the above are deadly, especially for dogs. With the exception of distemper, I have seen dogs die of parvovirus, heartworm and ticks in my old vet practice located in Sydney. All because owners did not either vaccinate against parvo or give their dogs heartworm medication (I can’t say anything horrible about owners whose dogs suffer ticks bites because they are damn near impossible to prevent).

So, why am I against these homeopathic vaccinations? Because homeopathy is complete bullocks. They don’t contain any active ingredient whatsoever. It isn’t herbal medication, it is just water and sugar – that’s it. Water & sugar is not going to prevent your dog during an outbreak of parvovirus which occurs every summer without fail in Sydney.

Parvovirus has a kill rate of about 50%. It really is pure luck if your dog survives a bout of parvovirus. The best vets can do is to put your dog on a drip and just watch as it shits and vomits out all the water content in its body. It is one of the most gruesome ways a dog can die (and I used to watch about 20 dogs die from it each summer) and yet it is totally preventable by one yearly vaccination.

Heartworm is spread by mozzies and I don’t need to tell anyone who lives in Australia that we have a hell of a lot of mozzies. You can’t prevent stop your dog from being bit by a mozzie, so why risk it? Heartworm can be prevented by one yearly vaccination or a once month spot on application. It’s that simple and easy. The treatment if your dog does get heartworm is extremely hard on dogs and can kill them.

Yes, there are side effects to vaccinations, but they are extremely rare in dogs. The vast majority of dogs handle their vaccinations just fine and the once yearly trip to the vet to get them also includes a general check up so you can catch any other potential problems early.

Don’t think that by using homeopathic vaccinations that you are doing the best thing for your dog by giving them something natural. Yes, water is natural & has no side-effects but it is not going to prevent them from contracting deadly diseases. Do the right thing and get them properly vaccinated once a year, every year.

Took part in my very first act of skeptical activism today at the 10:23 Homeopathic Overdose event in Sydney. The aim of the event was quite simple to show that homeopathic medication is just sugar and water and therefore totally ineffective by overdosing on homeopathic sleeping pills.

The directions for use on the back of the packet

Armed with about 40 pills each. We staged our overdose in front of the chemist who sold us the medication.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the chick hiding up the back (me and cameras don’t play nicely).

We all survived with no signs of sleepiness whatsoever, except for James, who blamed it on having to get up at 6am on a Saturday morning.

The only effect most of us got was a rather large sugar high.

Looking forward to seeing the results of the UK 10:23 Homeopathy Overdose events that are taking place in front of Boots chemist stores across the UK to protest against their production and sale of homeopathic medication.

On Saturday 30th January, as part of the UK’s 10:23 project, skeptics in various cities throughout the UK and Australia will be taking part in a mass homeopathic “overdose” to help educate the general public that homeopathic remedies are just really expensive bottles of water that don’t do what they claim on the label. The harm in this is when homeopathic remedies replace conventional treatment and people, like 9 month old Gloria Sam, lose their lives because of it. The fact that homeopathic remedies are sold in many UK and Australian pharmacies where people go to seek medical advice and are actively recommended by pharmacy staff is something that needs to be stopped and should be made illegal.

If you would like to take part or just simply come and watch, check out the Facebook pages for the UK event and the Australian event for more details.

I’m going to be overdosing at the Sydney event which will be taking place at the QVB. I wonder if I can call into work on Monday morning suffering from homeopathic death?